Question on this chemical, Polybutene

[minger]

Hi guys, I have a quick question on this checmical, Polybutene. At my plant, we are having a pigeon problem in one of our compressor buildings. We requested some samples of some bird "deterrent" products. One that came back was this gel type stuff. I noticed that it was 97% Polybutene.

Anyways, so I googled this stuff and found out that it was a tacky adhesive used in many different types of applications. I figured the premise of the product was that the birds would not like to land on the gel and stick to it. So, this company charges a small fortune for this stuff which only covers 10ft per bottle. Were looking at over 800 feet that we need to cover, so were looking for cheaper solutions.

I guess my question is what is the consistency of pure Polybutene? Is it in a form that could be easily applied to beams and things like that? Is there a place where a large order of this stuff can be placed (I seen it's a main ingredient in lip gloss, so there's got to be some place to get this stuff).

Thanks for the help

 

[DocToxyn]

Have you considered a non chemical-based deterrent, like spike strips? They would appear to last longer than adhesive compounds and might be cheaper. I found this http://www.flybye.com/displayproducts.asp?section=Bird%20Control&category=Bird%20Spikes in the UK.

 

[hypatia]

I use plastic snakes on my building. Others in my area use plastic owls, both seem to work ok.

 

[minger]

The spikes are considerably more expensive. I mean, I don't really think cost is too much of an option here, but I always try to save the company money. Also, the spikes use a plastic "body" to which they attach to whatever. We have somewhat of a "dirty' environment, and I guess plastic doesn't hold up very well in our plant.

If we could get this chemical for cheap, then re-applying it once a year wouldn't be too big of a deal. I was just wondering, what it actually does and so on and so forth.

 

[birder]

Have you considered the 1% to 5% ethyl alcohol mixed in the polybutene gel. It may be readily absorbed dermally by the birds feet and it may be toxic or a dermal irritant to avian species.

 

[Redbelly98]

Hello birder,

Welcome to PF!

One of the nice features here is the message date, which is displayed at the upper left of each and every posted message. Check it out!

 

[Simon_Moore]

Polybutene isn't a gel, its a liquid.

It comes in a variety of forms from very mobile grades (consistency similar to that of cooking oil) up to very viscous grades (consistency like treacle or even more viscous), but they are all pure liquids, not gels. So if you plan to coat it onto a vertical or sloping surface it will likely run off (sooner or later).

There are ways round this, but unless you fancy doing some blending its probably not going to be worth it. If you blend about 2-4% of a polyethylene wax or a Fischer-Tropsche wax into polybutene you can gel it into a nice soft very sticky gel which should fit your needs. You can also buy these sorts of products ready made - they go into the manufacture of telephone cables.

Not to be confused with polyISObutylene of course, which, contrary to popular opinion, is different stuff.